Son ur wrong. TI wasn't that nikka until AFTER Trap Musik dropped. He didn't fall off. He wasn't even on. And I had his first album and used to spin Dope Boyz feat Foxy Brown when I was a DJ.
. Stillmatic resurrected nas careerI said AT THE TIME. Regardless. If u was a Nas fan u would know the music that was floating around at the time. The I Am bootleg. The songs on QB Finest such as Find Ya Wealth, Self Conscience, Da Bridge 01 which had multiple dope verses. Nastradamus was dope lyrically with shyt like Last Words, Project Windows and Life We Chose. So honestly u just creating these narratives based on what Jay said and the fact Nas wasn’t as popular as Jay and certain other artists at the time. The game was changing in a weird way in 00-01. But u can’t say a nikka was ICE COLD when he just came off a 1.5 million album and hit singles not even a year earlier. It doesn’t fit the criteria. Sorry.
Shut yo dumb ass up because let’s get it straight. U clearly wasn’t outside during the I Am era. From the fact it was bootlegged so heavily and was the first album to get heavily bootlegged with MP3s at the time to the point people thought the industry was gonna crash cause of MP3. . To the fact that songs like Hate Me Now was the first song Flex ever dropped bombs on. They used to run that shyt with the lyrics all over MTV as well. It actually sold more and had a higher score in the Source than IWW at the time. U nikkas just get on here and just be loud and wrong. U clearly wasn’t raised during this era. Here’s proof in the pudding. If nikkas was so disappointed in I Am. Nastradamus wouldn’t have went Plat literally that SAME year. U damn sure wasn’t outside or in the streets during that time frame. U nikkas just get on here and lie. Only with Nas can a nikka come off dropping 2 multiplat albums in one year and nikkas say his career was over. Just stupid af. Stillmatic didn’t sell more than I Am. It sold right along the same amount as Nastradamus at the time.Stillmatic , nobody was checking for nas after wakk ass nastradamus and the disappointing I am album(booth nas groupies will call it a classic)
Then oochie wallie
I didn’t read nothing past the first sentence and I Know I’m older than you and this how I know .NOBODY was checking for nas then period
It was a meh album in YOUR opinion. I know people who has I Am as their fav Nas album. U nikkas gotta stop thinking that ur opinions are end all be all. It’s a narrative. I Am despite the bootlegs. Despite having to change course and redo the whole shyt. It STILL sold more than most solo albums that year. Had a higher first week than Jay that year. To chalk that up as just budget is corny. Cause like I said. It’s not like Stillmatic sold much more than Nastradamus at the time. To dismiss Nas’ sales yet the other big artists at the time get bigged up for those sales is corny. Nas was one of the top 5 selling solo artists that year along with Juvenile, DMX, Jay Z, Eminem, and Dre. PLENTY of people liked I Am. Like I said. First album that featured a song that got bombs dropped on it by Flex. Critically did better than IWW. Commercially did better than IWW. I remember the streets then. And the schools. I got in trouble because I brought the CD to my high school at the time and everybody was passing it around looking at th booklet. I was a DJ at the time as well doing block parties n all kinda shyt. I Am >>>> Vol 3 quality wise. shyt even if u don’t wanna compare to Nas. Vol 2. >>>>>>>> Vol 3. Yet Jay never gets that level of criticism. Why is that? I lived thru this shyt. I was around. I was a DJ. I have core memories attached to it. I’m not finna deny reality for a narrative. Sorry.
I had the bootleg of I Am. And Nastradamus was rushed out and I’m not gonna pretend it was quality wise fukkin Stillmatic at all. Stillmatic is a classic. Nas def showed out and flexed on that. But to act like son was ice cold is the shyt I have a prob with. If it was that serious. Nas would’ve outsold the fukk out of Nastradamus at the time. Which he didn’t.
That timeline doesnt seem right. I don't remember Nas announcing Stillmatic that early on in the year. Also. Nas ended up having beef with XXL cause of how he felt he was treated within those last few years. He expressed that in 03.
